The Dillon tribune., 1887-02-18
CUBAN ETIQUETTE.
eefUS!VE pOLlTENESS FOUND IN
HIGH-TONEp SPANISH SOCIETY.

NOrrcSpOndenrc~Extra rO!ite
Speech-t:allantry ON the street.
lrcceiyed n letter a few days :yo from,
Il Cuban. On the upper left hand corner
of the outside Of the envelope We're the
initials b. l.. p. Now, any one who has
studied Spanish knows that u. l.. p. or
B. l.. NJ, in n letter Vt extreme polite
ness and etiquette, are used Il, the close
Of /. letter; hut the lse of these initials
on the envelope I hardly think ia a.
familiar to the general student of Span.
tsh. This is very usual, both here aud IN
Spain on letters Of some ceremony, and It
is dc rigucur ON the envelopes If cere.
taouious notes, invitations, etc.
Ladies' writing to gentlemen, or 10 each
other, or gentlemen writing tO each other,
use Il. l.. M.--"BesO las ,nanos'' II kiss
the hands,. Gentlemen writing to Ia.
dies use b. T.. P.-"Beso Las pies" II kiss
the feet). The compliment, Of course,
for the hands and feet of the party writ
ten to. The many expressions of friend
ship, respect, etc., used nt the close Of the
Spanish letter are not sufficient without
the usual Il. l.. NJ. or Is. j.. p. The fol
lowing cffusivc form is much used in writ
ing to q person even Of very slight &C.
guaintancc: "With the sinccrest profes.
st"ns of sympathy and friendship from
her aftcctiOnatc servant, who h. l.. F."
tkisses her fcct), etc. To Use one set Of
initials for the other shows great ignor-
ance Of the ctilucttes and convcniences
Of society. A Cuban lady Of my ac-
quaintancc received OH her fetc day the
usual compliment Of visiting care.
under cover from u gentleman. TN
looking nj the envelope she threw up her
head with 4 jerk and remarked that
zone could easily sec that that man did
not know anything, or he never would
have put Il. l.. NJ, instead of B. l.. r.,
OH an envelope sent to u ludy.''
A MATTER OF SPANISH TASTE.
l must acknowledge that could not
appreciate the nice difference. But after
all on reflection. there certainly is some
difference between Il. l.. NJ. and b. l..
r., and it. is only y matter Of Spanish
taste which is the most agreeable pro-
ceetling.
This is only ono Of tho very little polite
nothings of ,his very polite people.
On being presented to n strnnger-if u
laly-instead Of the usual bow, more or
less gracious, of our country, there is 4
cordial shake Of the hand, accompanied
by an extravagantly polite speech cx-
VtCSSsuS Anc very kIc0G uibpvlucSS tNlS
meeting has caused, ending with an
offer to you from tho lady of her house,
which is, in other words, an invitation
for you to visit her. A single man goes
through the same style Of compli,nental
speech and concludes by telling you that
he lives at such number in such a
street, and bcgs that IL yon need his ser
vices you will call ON him.
Whether sincere or not, these little po.
lite forms arc the fiowery adornments Of
speech. and help IL make up the refine
mcnts and illusions of life, more Or less
agreeable, according to the view one
takes of them. What would bc received
by an American woman rs MI impertin-
ence is received by Cuban with II gra-
ciots smile aud u ''gracias, said in u
most pleasant tone of voice, ~, for in
stance, on being helped into her carriage
by n man who is a complete stranger to
her. II gentleman IN passing on the
street when u lady ia about tn enter her
carriage--tt no gentleman is with her,
he hands her into her carriage This is
considered here only what man who is
a gentleman would .lo under such cir.
cumstances. Compliments are sometimes
paid by gentlemen 10 ladies' m, the street,
but arc considered bad style. Cuba
Cor. New Orleans Times Democrat.